Lib Dems blame “decades of Labour incompetence” after council ranked 307 out of 317 nationwide, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council has criticised data from a government watchdog which ranked them the eleventh worst in England, calling it “selective, misleading and inaccurate”.

Opposition leader Luke Cawley-Harrison called the ranking “abysmal” saying after 50 years of being run by Labour, Haringey was one of the “very worst performing councils in the country”.

The data, which was collected by the Office for Local Government (Oflog), ranked all 317 councils in England, and councils were given an overall ranking which for Haringey was 307th.

Councils’ finance, waste, road, social care and planning services were also ranked, and informed their overall rankings.

Neighbouring borough Camden performed better with an overall ranking of 253, while Barnet was worse with a score of 312 and Enfield similar at 303.

For finance, Haringey was ranked 311th, waste 277th, roads 77th, social care 286th and planning 70th.

However, a council spokesperson criticised Oflog’s methodology, adding the Local Government Association (LGA) as well as councils across the country had “heavily criticised” the results.

The spokesperson said: “The analysis is selective, misleading and does not provide an accurate picture of individual councils or the sector as a whole.

“For instance, it awards an average score to councils that don’t even deliver a service, automatically rating them higher than half of those that do.”

In an article from The Times where the information was available, it said not all councils provided all services and were therefore allocated “an average score” for that service.

Barring one, the City of London which was ranked 25th, the top 30 councils did not provide at least one or more of the services, furthermore a minority of the top 150 councils provided all services.

However, Cllr Cawley-Harrison called Haringey’s ranking a “wake-up call”.

He said: “Residents know that services are struggling, but to see it so clearly is still shocking. Labour in Haringey are failing on housing, recycling and so much more.

“Haringey has received wake up call after wake up call over recent years, but nothing seems to improve. It’s clear that only new leadership will provide the change our borough needs and end the decades of Labour incompetence.”

In response Haringey highlighted its recent successes including being named ‘London Borough of Culture’ for 2027, work beginning on 2,000 new council homes and being awarded a rating of ‘good’ for children’s services for the first time as well as the planting of 4,000 trees.

The spokesperson added: “We know there is much more to do, we want excellence for our borough and are tireless in our commitment to improve our services. This includes proactively engaging with support mechanisms, such as the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge, to learn from others and help our improvement journey.

“We will continue co-designing and collaborating with our community to deliver for all residents in Haringey.”

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